Frederick Arts Council offering $400,000 in grants
May 24—The Frederick Arts Council is offering $400,000 through their Create and Activate Now (C.A.N.) grants to individual artists and 501c3 nonprofit organizations dedicated to the arts located in Frederick County.
The arts sector of Frederick was "devastated significantly" by the pandemic, said FAC Executive Director Louise Kennelly. Performing arts and their venues shut down and pop up markets for visual artists were closed for a long time, she said. The grants aim to help these groups back up.
"It's an infusion of support for the art sector that was hard hit by the pandemic and to help them get back on their feet," she said.
Interested parties must apply for the grants by May 30. Individual artists can request $2,500 or $5,000 and nonprofit organizations can request up to $15,000, according to the FAC website. Kennelly said they will turn out money to the recipients of the grants as soon as they can.
Kennelly said those applying for the grants can be a part of any artistic discipline: performing arts, visual arts, digital arts and even literary art. So long as the artists and nonprofits are applying with future creations in mind, they are qualified for the grant, she said.
"What we're encouraging is arts creation that's happening in the future," Kennelly said.
Applications will be evaluated based on artistic excellence, relevance and service to the community, and capacity to implement, according to the FAC website.
FAC received funding for the grants through the National Endowments for the Arts (NEA), which received money through the American Rescue Plan (ARP). In 2021, ARP announced a total of $20,200,000 in grants distributed to 66 local arts agencies in order to help artistic and cultural sectors recover from the pandemic, according to the NEA website.
FAC applied for the highest amount they could regrant, Kennelly said, since they knew how much their community needed it.
They were awarded a total of $500,000, $100,000 of which was split between management of the grant and program, and a future mural program, Kennelly said.
Kennelly said the money they received through the NEA is not just recovery funding for the artistic community in Frederick, but it also has a "legacy impact".
"When you give to the arts, a lot of what they can come up with is visible and tangible and will be here long after the awards are distributed," Kennelly said. "It's important for Frederick because the results of these grants will be visible and seen."
Interested parties can apply for the grant at FAC's website.
Follow Clara Niel on Twitter: @clarasniel
